Chaos Theory - How Hee Jyung Kim uses disorder to create liberated paintings.

Written by Jamie Finn (@jamiefinn2209)

Hee Jyung Kim's painting breaks out from the flat surface, defying the notion of a canvas and blurring the lines between painting, sculpture and installation. Her work explodes into the space it inhabits and gives her art a sense of life, a kind of consciousness as it invades a space. The images she creates draw on a kind of manic kinesis to create a sense of chaos. 

"Even though I've studied painting academically in university, I always had a craving for images beyond the canvas. Paintings always need a square frame or a wall that hangs itself. But the square always gave me the feeling of being trapped. 

"I wanted to see if even a single picture would naturally merge into space, exist closer to the world, and be seen as alive without being trapped in the boundary of a frame. So I started to consider space when I installed my paintings and drawing. When I was finishing the work, I first considered the wall where the painting was hung, and the wall expanded back to the space itself so that installation with the paintings was naturally combined into one. Therefore, my installation work is the result of an expanded painting process."

The friction extends beyond the execution of Kim's work, and one of the main themes she explores is chaos. The philosophical idea of chaos is important to her work, and in that way, it has a feeling of aesthetic destruction as much as creation. With pieces hanging crooked or even strewn on the floor, the presentation of her images is as much part of the art as the image themselves. Often woven together by intricate, sprawling webs of interconnecting strands envoke a natural aesthetic similar to that of a Mycorrhizal network.

"Inspired by the border of memory-experience, and sublime sensations from daily life, incorporating drawing as my primary medium, I want to explore the correlation in the roots, state and depths of the mind as well as the body. I express visual language through drawing, painting, collage and installation." 

"Recently, the theme of chaos has appeared often in my work. I try to examine the beauty of chaos in my creative process and my work, interpreting the concept of chaos as the beginning and essence of all beings. In my artwork, it appears as a contrasting mixture of light and darkness, inside and outside, consciousness and unconsciousness, yin and yang. 

"My practice exists between the abstract and the figurative. I represent them in lines, contrasting colours and dynamic strokes. I create images that look violent, friendly, noisy, and calm at the same time. As such, I aim to create artwork where the inner and outer worlds harmonise with chaos."

Despite the emphasis on chaos, there is a sense of aesthetic flow to her work that demonstrates Kim's strong sense of composition and ability to contain the disarray. Her use of intoxicatingly vibrant colour and the sharp contrast between shades help create this sense of organised bedlam.

So it will come as no surprise that the act of art, for Kim, is one of liberation and catharsis. Her semi-abstract work features action painting-like strokes in which the method of creation is a feature of the image. Each physical expression of the artist lies on the surface of each piece adding to the physical presence of her vision.

"My art practice is expressing the sense of liberation that real moments bring as I hunt for images out of the innermost human psyche. It's a way to get what's stuck inside to come out. It releases and thereby provides relief from strong emotions from within. This expression is related to this working of the inside and outside, the physical versus the psychological, these opposite sides that coexist in chaos, together in my work. It offers a deep dive into the fleeting realm of memory-experience, and the physical sensation of the mundane every day. As such, just appositions and borders between all of these contrasting things; memory - sensation, real-world - psyche, the mind - the body coexists freely and well within my art. 

"Small postcard size drawing is the beginning of my creative process. To find an inner image, I observe and record my feelings, conditions, and thoughts every day, and draw a poster card-sized drawing that reflects them by combining them with images found outside. I believe that honest work comes from looking at oneself, observing and recording, and constantly asking questions about yourself. So I might I'm a bloody observer. When I experience a process that leads to results from these little drawings to these big projects, I'm more obsessed with creating art.

"In my studio (I call it a playground), I pursue a variety of ways to make artwork and use materials so as not to bore myself in the process of working. 

Kim thrives in chaos and is constantly on the search for the new. In fact, she claims that the over-familiarity of her hometown of Seoul was a hurdle that she had to overcome. Her art is all about exploring space, both visually and physically. Therefore, the geographical space that she inhabits is vital to her process.

"Since I was born and raised in South Korea, the culture and environment I experienced were actually so familiar that it was hard to find new inspiration. I'm influenced by space and the people around me, so new environments such as London, which is very diverse, inspire me a lot.

"Combining my previous eyes with new inspiration is very helpful in developing my visual language, and also, meeting various amazing artists here is precious in sharing my ideas. They give me a lot of courage and make me keep being an artist. 

But Kim wants to keep her work open to inspiration and to help others unlock their own creativity. Her art is explorative, and she invites viewers to explore space. In that way, the art has interactive elements that emphasises the role of the viewer.

"I dream of being able to paint abstract art freely, without any obstacles to my mind someday, away from psychological oppression and obsession with painting. Maybe I'll be happy if the public sees my work and it becomes someone's inspiration, just like I feel when I see other artists' work.

"I think the process of creating my artwork is a way to feel liberation from something suppressed, so I would be happy to let someone feel the sense of liberation or catharsis.”

For more information on Hee Jyung Kim, follow her here.